Catching up - Photos from "out west"

I'm catching up on photos from this spring and summer (finally!). Early this past spring my Dad and I made a spur of the moment trip out to Gove County, Kansas to photograph Castle Rock and Monument Rocks. This is a very unique part of Kansas that many people aren't aware of. The limestone rock formations in this part of Kansas used to be the bottom of a large inland sea...which was around not long ago, only about 80 million years! I was born in Scott City, Kansas and it was good to get back to this part of the state. My family used to go out to similar limestone rock formations and find sharks teeth and other fossils. It is really amazing to hold something in your hand that is that old...helps keep everything in perspective.

My Dad and I arrived at Castle Rock just about the perfect time to shoot the sunset. I didn't remember much of the area and the thing that really surprised me were the wildflowers. The area was covered with them. It was hard to start photographing because I couldn't decide what to shoot first!

After the sun was down, we drove into Scott City and crashed for the night, got up early the next morning to catch the sunrise at Monument Rocks. We had a beautiful morning and after shooting the sunrise we headed back to Castle Rock to photograph the last of the morning light before driving on home.

We had a great trip...spent lots of time driving, but it was worth it. I can't wait to get back to that part of Kansas when I have time to stay for awhile and do some exploring.

You can view some of my photos from this trip by clicking on the links below:



Photographs of Monument Rocks, Gove County, Kansas.










Photographs of Castle Rock, Gove County, Kansas.














Black and White Photographs of Castle Rock and Monument Rocks.









If you get the chance to visit this part of Kansas, take it!

Out and about this weekend

Fall colors have probably been at the peak around Manhattan this past week. I managed to get up early Saturday morning before sunrise and headed out to the Carnahan Creek area on Tuttle Creek Lake to see if I could get some shots before all the leaves were off the trees.

As I drove out across the dam at Tuttle Creek Lake I could see fog coming off the lake so I went first down to the boat ramp at Carnahan to try some shots off the fog coming off the water. The fog wasn't as thick as I would have hoped for but it was a beautiful morning. Quiet, only a slight breeze and all the plants were covered in a light frost.The sun wasn't high enough to be shining into the cove when I first started shooting which left with a nice cool blue color to work with. I was able to frame the fog on the lake with some interesting rocks in the foreground.

As the sun came up and started lighting up the trees on the opposite shore I drove around to the over end of Carnahan to get some front lit shots of the trees. Front light (where the sun is shining on the front of your subject. which means the sun is behind you) is great for showing off colors. The colors were excellent. After I was finished in this area, I drove up to Wildflower Road, which is an excellent place to get photos of the Flint Hills, here again I was able to photograph the fall colors front lit by the sun and had some great colors to work with .

On my way home, the skies clouded over and diffused the harsh light as the sun continued to rise so I stopped below the Tuttle Creek dam and took a few more photos of fallen leaves.

My favorite shot of the morning came from Carnahan though. While shooting the sun lighting up the far shoreline I noticed that behind me a single cloud was reflected in the stream feeding into Tuttle Creek Lake. I really liked the shape of the cloud and the symmetry produced by its reflection in the water (this is the second photo shown above). Photos from this outing can be viewed here: Fall Photographs on Tuttle Creek Lake, Kansas.

Chase County Road Trip

Took a road trip yesterday down to Chase County with a couple of friends and fellow photographers (Bill and Adam) to photograph an old mill in Cedar Point, KS. We were hoping that the trees near the mill would be in their fall colors, but we where about a week early. On the way down we stopped at Cottonwood Falls to photograph at the Cottonwood River Bridge and then headed on to the Chase County State Fishing Lake to check out the waterfalls. There wasn't much water flowing, but some (more than the last time I was there). The trees above the falls had some nice fall color on them, which made for some good photographs.

After leaving the lake and waterfalls we drove down to Cedar Point (well actually we drove past it first!) and caught the last of the light at the mill. It was a beautiful day and a great trip.

My photos from this road trip can be viewed here.

Kansas! Its Hidden Gems"

People always think Kansas is just one big, flat wheat field and do not realize the diverse landscapes there is in the state. Photographer Angela Classen has put together a book featuring some of her favorite places in Kansas to visit and photograph. Details on the book can be found here, check it out when you get a chance! There are some great photos in this book and it if you are one of these people that think all of Kansas is flat and empty it might just enlighten you a bit!

Bogg's Landing, Sunset and Sunrise

I recently had the pleasure of shooting photos together with a couple of friends and fellow photographers from Nature Photographers, Wayne Rhodus and Angela Classen. Both of Wayne and Angela are amazing photographers and you should check their websites out when you have a chance.

We decided to shoot the sunrise on Saturday at Bogg's Landing on the Kansas River just outside of St. George, KS. None of us had been there before so I went over on Thursday evening to do some scouting and photograph the sunset. It turned out to be an amazing evening with fantastic color in the sky. The sunrise on Saturday was good, but the sky wasn't quite as spectacular as the Thursday evening. The pre-dawn light was great though...a good lesson for me (I don't like to get up early in the morning!). It was a fun outing and great to shoot with some fellow Kansas photographers. My photos from these 2 trips to Bogg's Landing can be viewed below.

My Sunset Photos
My Sunrise Photos